York River Sites Getting Shelter

Wetlands Join Reserve System

June 15, 1991|By MARK DI VINCENZO Staff Writer

GOODWIN ISLANDS — Sand crabs the size of a quarter peek out of holes in the muddy beach, then retreat. Seconds later, an osprey, lugging a fish in its talons, flies over the river, screeching as if pursued by a hawk. There was no hawk behind it. There were humans below it.

``Our presence here bothers them,'' says marine biologist Carroll N. Curtis. But the crabs, ospreys and other wildlife on these islands have two options: get used to Curtis, the director of the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve System in Virginia, or leave.

The Goodwin Islands and three other sites in the York River system on Friday were the first wildlife areas to be designated as part of the bay research reserve system, the 19th such area in the nation set aside for long-term environmental monitoring, research and education.

Nationwide, the system protects hundreds of estuarine waters, marshes, shorelines and adjacent uplands. Estuaries, where saltwater mixes with freshwater, is also a place where plants and animals find the food they need.

The bay reserve system, the only one in Virginia, consists of the Goodwin Islands, a 492-acre archipelago off the Seaford section of York County; the Catlett Islands, 536 acres of mostly forested wetlands in Gloucester; Taskinas Creek, a 525-acre section of York River State Park northeast of Williamsburg; and Sweet Hall Marsh, 1,025 acres of mostly tidal wetlands along the Pamunkey River.

``The whole idea of these sites having protected status, being protected forever, is very desirable,'' Curtis says. ``We won't have to worry about not having permission to do research there five or 10 or 15 years from now.''

Reserve system designation means the federal government, namely the U.S. Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will help pay for research that might not otherwise be conducted, says Patmarie Maher, a NOAA program specialist and oceanographer.

Each of the reserve systems is guaranteed $70,000 a year - ``if they want it,'' Maher says. Most of the federal money that the bay reserve system receives will have to be matched by the state or forfeited, she says. Massachusetts, in a financial crunch, forfeited its share of the money this year.

Before the sites were accepted into the estuarine system, NOAA asked Curtis to come up with a list of possible research projects for the sites. That list has become part of the system's management plan. When Curtis wants money for these projects, she will have to submit a proposal.

One involves excavating a portion of the Catlett Islands where Indians once lived, Curtis says. Scientists hope to learn more about how those Indians lived and worked and what they ate, among other things.

Like other wetland plants, reed grass effectively abates flood waters, protects shorelines from erosion and purifies water by filtering pollutants from it. But waterfowl don't like to eat the seed it produces, and it ``invades and outcompetes'' other wetland plants, Hartenstine says.

Because it has desirable attributes, developers and landscapers who are charged with creating wetlands like to use it. But ``it's not desirable,'' Hartenstine says, ``and we'd really rather it not be here.''

The Goodwin Islands, owned by the College of William and Mary, were donated to the college in 1985 by developers who bought them in 1977 and tried for years to get permission to build housing there. Five years ago this month, a fire burned one-fourth of the islands, but they recovered within months and remain a popular resting place for waterfowl, a productive nursery for plants and a home for deer and other animals.

The Catlett Islands were part of a 3,000-acre land grant made in 1639 to an Englishman named George Menefie, who lost the land a few years later in a high-stakes dart game in Williamsburg. The Catlett family of Gloucester bought their homestead on the York in 1792, and it has been family owned since.

Less is known about Taskinas Creek and Sweet Hall Marsh. Taskinas Creek is the only one of the four sites open to the public. Sweet Hall Marsh, 900 acres of tidal wetlands and 125 acres of non-tidal wetlands, has been owned by Tacoma Hunting and Fishing Club for more than a century.